Shuffling Child Among Classes Depending on Staffing or Time of Day

Hi J.,
I would look into a different daycare for several reasons.
A two yr old should not be with the 4 yr olds. Your child is an infant/toddler and they are preschoolers.
You as a parent gave them specific orders not to put your child with the 4 yr olds. They disobeyed that. That to me is crossing the line. Why couldn't they put your 2 yr. old with the younger kids? A six months age difference at that age is huge.
Your child will be 2 1/2 within a few months and, as you stated, they put the 2 1/2 yr olds with the 4 yr olds. Does that meam your child will be with the teacher you're not fond of because of her yelling?
I would seriously start looking for a new center now that you have a little time. I don't like people yelling at kids.
Good Luck
K.

As a preschool teacher, I am very surprised that your son's daycare would do so much shuffling - generally, if there are staffing issues, centers are supposed to shuffle the staff around to a specific room that needs them, not move the kids to a different room. And you are absolutely right, it is not appropriate for your 2 year old to be in a classroom of 4 year olds: know that daycare centers generally do NOT do this, as a rule. I suggest looking into a new daycare center for your son. Not only is the inconsistancy bad for the children's state of mine, but the moving around of children from classroom to classroom can spread germs and bacteria onto children and infants that would otherwise not be exposed to some of those older kid illnesses, and cause some serious health issues. Your son's daycare center is obviously not being run by someone with an educated or experienced background in childcare.

I too would start looking for another center. My son's daycare doesn't have a set age limit on rooms. They go by their developements and how they interact with the other children. When my son was 9 months old he started at this daycare and even though they prefer them move into the toddler area at 1 or 1.5 years old, my son wasn't walking nor was he eating completely solid foods. So we worked together to get him eating more solids, and he didn't start walking until he was 15 months old. He was not allowed to switch to antoher room until they could see he was on the same levels as the other children. Now that my son is 2 and he has progressed very quickly since he could walk he can now go outside with the 2-4 year olds and can handle himself, whereas a friend of mine's child isn't allowed because she can't interact with those ages and she's really really small for her age, so she's still in a younger area. You need to be honest and open with the director and tell her how you feel, or definitly find a new place if nothing changes.

I would find another school. This is your child. I had the same experience, and felt that if mother's are paying good money for their precious children to be taken care of by others...they should do it properly! There are all kinds of schools out there, some good, some bad. Trust your gut. If you don't like what you see, find another school. I did.

M. Dawson

It is rather common for the "ratio shuffle" to happen. A lot of daycares will not allow the child staff ratio to be equal or +adult to child. This is, IN FACT, for the safty of your child. what they SHOULD do, as they did where I worked, is send a teacher from your daughters room WITH her to the next class. This teacher is still incharge of her studnts, but it protects your child from the potential of inappropriate conduct. I would suggest this alternative to her daycare director. Hope it helps, ~J

Also, be cautious of any school that allows one teach to stay in a room alone with ANY child. This is not normal anymore!